The Wall Street Journal provides an interesting infographic which fairly well outlines what the market for college graduates is looking for. Or said another way, employers determine what majors they’ll hire, not college students.
So we have college recruiting picking up – a good sign – and we have a buyers market. Bottom left tells us all what they’re interested in and, more importantly, what they’re not interested in. Of course that’s of the 160 employers surveyed. That obviously doesn’t mean that the bottom five can’t and won’t find employment. It’s just likely they won’t find it with those 160 surveyed. They indicated, however, a trend we’ve talked about quite often. Hard skills or business related skills.
Bottom right shows us how the market for college graduates has changed in the last few years. Only 25% are hired while still in college, most, one would suppose, in those top 5 categories. The huge difference, however, comes in the last number for 2009-2011 graduates. 45% still have no “first full-time job”. That means some are going on 3 years. That adds more credence to the last chart on this post.
As for this year’s college grads, they face even tougher prospects when it comes to finding a job. They not only have to compete against their peers, but against the graduates from from previous years still seeking their “first full-time job”.
Which brings us to the politics of this situation. In 2008, Obama charmed the college age crowd who treated him like a combination of a rock-star and the second coming.
With the sort of situation the chart depicts now being the reality and with the youngest demographic (which includes these college age job seekers) the worst hit by the still staggering economy, one has to wonder whether or not he can pull them back into his orbit again in any significant numbers with the promise of saving them $7 a month on college loans.
I’m guessing the answer is “no”.
~McQ
Twitter: @McQandO